Brentford produced their worst performance of the season as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Burton Albion.

The Bees were, for the majority of the 90 minutes, flat and uninspiring and jokes were made at half-time that the referee was so bored he didn't want to add a second of stoppage time on a 45 minutes that were devoid of real goalmouth action as Burton's 5-4-1 formation stood strong.

Dean Smith made changes five minutes into the second half, replacing Ryan Woods and Nico Yennaris with Josh McEachran and Sergi Canos, and the pair combined to win a free kick that Florian Jozefzoon struck into the top corner.

That drew Burton out more and Canos and Yoann Barbet went close to making it 2-0 and game over but the Bees were caught out at the back as Ben Turner headed home at the far post to rescue a point.

Boos greeted the final whistle and Dean Smith was angry with the display.

Below are five talking points to emerge from the game.

Team selection

Dean Smith

Dean Smith admitted he got the team selection wrong and I would agree with that assessment.

Everyone knew that Burton were going to visit Griffin Park, put men behind the ball and frustrate the Bees.

For me, it was a 'safe' team and the likes of Josh McEachran and Sergi Canos could well have started to try and provide that spark.

There was a lack of risk in the play that you need to break a defensive team down and it seemed as if the Bees were going through the motions until they finally got their goal.

Now, I'm not saying that Brentford need to play long ball football but I do feel, at times, they need to get the ball from back to front much faster than they did against the Brewers.

By dawdling on the ball, they allowed the visitors to get back into their shape and, with five plus defenders, it was always going to be difficult to stretch the game on the flanks.

That's where someone like Canos would have come in with his box of tricks and he certainly changed the game when he came on.

Breaking teams down

Florian Jozefzoon has Ben Turner for company

Brentford's performance against Burton was their worst of the season and the most frustrating thing about it is the fact it appeared on the cards.

My feeling ahead of the game was it was going to be a similar style to the 1-1 draw with Derby where the Bees dominated the game but struggled to break a resilient Rams' defence down.

That was exactly how it transpired and the west London club, by and large, lacked that spark and edge, that would be required on a night like this.

Some work will be needed in the coming weeks to work out how to break resilient defensive sides down.

To give credit to Burton, they stuck to their game plan perfectly, as uninspiring as it was to watch. The fact they have four clean sheets in their last six away games says it works for them.

Brentford needed a moment of magic to break through and they got it through Florian Jozefzoon's fine free kick.

But, it turned out to not be enough, which brings us to our second talking point.

Holding onto leads

Ben Turner scores the equaliser

Brentford have dropped 16 points from winning positions so far this Championship season.

If you added that to their tally then they would be at the top of the table, having played a game more than Wolves.

To have gifted so many points from winning positions is not good enough and, already, it looks to be the issue that separates Brentford from the top sides in the division.

The last few years have been easy to determine where the Bees have not had enough, compared to the sides that were in the promotion and play-off mix at the end of the season.

In 2015/16, it was the fact that they struggled to pick up wins against the sides at the top. Last year, it was the fact they picked up just four points out of 18 against the sides that were relegated.

It is a statistic that should be a cause for concern to Dean Smith and his coaching staff.

Atmosphere

Lucas Akins is tackled by Ollie Watkins

I felt before the game that the Brentford fans needed to be as patient as the players on the pitch in order for the Bees to get the win.

Patience, though, was in short supply as the fans were quick to get on the backs of certain players throughout the game.

It was good to see Neal Maupay get a vociferous backing after his miss against Cardiff but where was the backing for Nico Yennaris for instance?

Ben Turner was found guilty by the FA of racially abusing the Bees midfielder last season and there was no sign of booing the Burton man, nor cheering when Yennaris got on the ball. Of course, it would be Turner that scored the equaliser as well to add to the frustration.

Admittedly, Burton is not the sort of game fans get excited for but there was an impatient atmosphere which helped nobody.

I know that some will say they need to see more on the pitch to get involved but performance and atmosphere is a chicken and egg scenario. If you wait to be entertained then you may come away with nothing.

Easy way to move on

Josh Clarke of Brentford scores his side's first goal

There is no masking the fact that Tuesday night's performance was poor but there's an easy way to confine that to the scrapheap; win at Loftus Road on Monday night.

Fan feeling was similar after the 2-0 defeat to Barnsley last season, which preceded the trip to QPR.

However, a fantastic performance in W12 lifted everyone's spirits and the squad will, surely, know what is expected of them going into the contest.

Rangers are in an inconsistent run of form themselves, having lost their last three games, but Ian Holloway is desperate to get one over the Bees.

Playing away from home suits Brentford's style of play more as there is an onus on teams to come at the Bees and that enables them to break with more pace.

But form goes out the window in a derby game and the Bees must be on their mettle to claim all three points.